Nonadiabatic charged spherical evolution in the postquasistatic approximation

We apply the postquasistatic approximation, an iterative method for the evolution of self-gravitating spheres of matter, to study the evolution of dissipative and electrically charged distributions in general relativity. The numerical implementation of our approach leads to a solver which is globally second-order convergent. We evolve nonadiabatic distributions assuming an equation of state that accounts for the anisotropy induced by the electric charge. Dissipation is described by streaming-out or diffusion approximations. We match the interior solution, in noncomoving coordinates, with the Vaidya-Reissner-Nordstroem exterior solution. Two models are considered: (i) a Schwarzschild-like shell in the diffusion limit; and (ii) a Schwarzschild-like interior in the free-streaming limit. These toy models tell us something about the nature of the dissipative and electrically charged collapse. Diffusion stabilizes the gravitational collapse producing a spherical shell whose contraction is halted in a short characteristic hydrodynamic time. The streaming-out radiation provides a more efficient mechanism for emission of energy, redistributing the electric charge on the whole sphere, while the distribution collapses indefinitely with a longer hydrodynamic time scale.